For the first time, the "SUV" Siemens M75 was presented to the public at the CeBIT-2005 exhibition. It remains to test the new product for dust and shock resistance, as we did last year with Siemens M75 phones
There were no fundamental changes in the crash test methodology. As before, the phone has to go through 5 stages: a drop from various heights, a scratch resistance test, a dust test in sand and a vacuum cleaner bag, a water resistance test and a car run over. But there are still differences, and first of all it concerns the test with water. After our previous crash tests, many readers, and cell phone manufacturers themselves, reproached "Mobile Forum" for the fact that immersing the phone in water is incorrect, since the devices are made only to protect against moisture and splashes. Therefore, we decided not to drown the pipe, but to put it under an intense scattered stream of water, in other words, under a shower imitating a heavy downpour. The rest of the crash test methodology remained the same.
1. Fall
The principle of measuring mechanical strength. The phone is dropped onto a hard granite surface in a series of three throws. Each series is carried out in five ways: the phone is thrown strictly vertically, strictly vertically upside down (display down), horizontally with the display down (flat), vertically at an angle of 45% (lower edge), vertically at an angle of 45% with the display down (upper edge). Falls are carried out from a height of 0.6, 1.2, 1.8 and 2.4 meters. Thus, the maximum number of throws is 60. Each series of three throws at a certain angle is estimated by the coefficient Kn, where n is the number of the experiment. Kn=1, if after the n-th series of throws no damage is visible on the phone, all functions work properly. Кn=0.9, if after the n-th series of throws the body of the phone lost its integrity (the cover, panel, plug or other element flew off, and without damage, that is, the phone can be completely restored by the user). Kn=0.7, if after the n-th series of throws the phone shows minor external damage that can be repaired at low cost (scratches, paint chips, panel/battery cover play, etc.). Кn=0.5, if after the n-th series of throws, the external damage to the phone is significant and requires large (compared to the cost of the phone) repair costs (deep scratches, cracks in the case and display, broken battery mount, etc.). Кn=0.2, if after the n-th series of throws, among other things, a partial loss of functions is observed in the phone (the backlight went out, the sound signal of the call disappeared, the vibration alert broke, etc.). You can make and receive calls at the same time. Kn=0, if after the n-th series of throws the phone is no longer suitable for voice communication (the microphone/speaker is broken, the display is off, etc.). The overall score is calculated according to the formula: 2*(K1+K1*K2+....+K1*...*K5)+4*(K1*...*K6+K1*...*K7+.... +K1*...*K10) + 6*(K1*...*K11+...+K1*...*K15) + 8*(K1*...*K16+...+K1*. ..*K20), where K1-K5 - a series of throws from a height of 0.6 m at different angles, K6-K10 - the same from a height of 1.2 m, K11-K15 - from a height of 1.8 m, K16-K20 - from a height of 2.4 m The maximum number of points is 100.
Falls from heights of 0.6 and 1.2 meters onto the surface of any texture for the M75 is not a serious test. Throws from different angles did not cause any damage to the phone. Except that flying with the display down from a height of 1.2 m left a small dent on the metal frame and slightly scratched the corner of the case. But these defects are so small that we did not take them into account.
Falls from a height of 1.8 meters also did not give any results. Barely noticeable scratches on the speaker's mirror insert are all that the phone got after this series of throws.
The real test started at 2.4 meters. When dropped in a vertical position with the display facing down, the paint on the corners of the back of the phone was significantly peeled off. I must say that this is the most vulnerable spot, since it protrudes above the rubber inserts and is not protected in any way. The back of the handset, in contrast to the metal frame, is ordinary plastic with a gray color, so if the phone falls with its rear upper edge, especially on asphalt, then it is highly likely to be damaged.
Dropping it vertically with the display upside down resulted in the rubber protection peeling off the lid. In principle, this defect can be eliminated with one drop of glue, but all the same, Siemens lost some of the rating points on this.
After a series of vertical throws with the display up, the phone suddenly issued a "Map Error". Removing the battery showed that the SIM card went under the fasteners under the action of inertia. No wonder - the phone gets quite a serious blow from a fall from a height of 2.4 meters. With a flick of the thumb, the SIM card was returned to its place. As damage to the phone, this fact was not counted.
In total, after a series of 60 drops from a height of 0.6, 1.2, 1.8 and 2.4 meters, the Siemens M75 cell phone received the following damage: detachment of the rubber protection on the corner of the battery cover (removable on our own), several scratches on the case in the rear upper part and a small dent in the top of the metal frame. The overall rating of the hull strength is 93 points out of 100 possible.
2. Scratching the case
In this experiment, we put the phone on the asphalt with the display down and rubbed it properly. And what? There were almost no scratches on the screen, no matter how hard we tried. Almost all the damage fell on the metal insert, which creates a protruding roller along the perimeter of the front part. The metal in the most prominent places is a little worn, but the display remains intact - and this is the main thing. In principle, we expected to see something similar. If it were not for the metal frame, then from one session of sliding on asphalt, deep grooves would have remained on the soft plastic of the screen.
3. Sand and dust
Imagine that you dropped your phone in the sand on the beach. What are the consequences for your pipe? Most often, after that, the buttons begin to stick, especially the joystick as the least protected. The sensitivity of the microphone may be degraded by the fact that its hole is clogged with grains of sand. How the Siemens M75 will behave in such a situation, we find out in the children's sandbox.
We put the phone in the sand, fall asleep and carefully trample on it. Let's say on the beach the tube gets lost while playing volleyball. Then she will have to withstand not only the attack of the ubiquitous grains of sand, but also the pressure of human legs.
We dig out the poor "telephone", blow it off and shake out the sand from all the cracks. We look. No foreign particles were found in the connectors or in the chamber. The buttons do not stick, the joystick is also in perfect order - the test has been passed.
How is sand fundamentally different from dust? Here is the definition of the word "dust" given by Ozhegov's dictionary: "Dust is the smallest dry particles floating in the air or accumulating on the surface of something." The key words here are "dry" and "smallest". Thus, dust gets into the phone much more intensively. Another thing is that the consequences of it are not so terrible, and it is easier to “blow out” it than to extract sand. The biggest trouble that dust can bring to the owner of a cell phone is to accumulate between the screen and glass and annoy the user.
Like last time, we put the phone in the dust collector and vacuum the room. Then we take out the phone. Before opening the plugs, we blow into all kinds of cracks.
Dust still penetrated the connectors and especially the camera, although in negligible amounts. This fact did not have any negative consequences - the dust is easily removed by the own forces of a person who has far from champion lungs.
For the next test, we properly vacuum the phone and wipe it with a damp handkerchief. Water should not be afraid - the manufacturer guarantees the moisture resistance of the model. Don't believe? Let's check.
4. Water
As we have already said, this time we didn't burn the handset, as Siemens in the description of the model indicates not the water resistance of the device, but only moisture resistance. As the manufacturer himself explains, the M75 case protects the electronics and other components of the phone from splashes falling on the surface of the device, for example, during rain.
Well, rain is rain. Or rather, a downpour, which we imitate with a shower turned on at full "power".
During the bathing session, the phone continued to ring as if nothing had happened. "Rain" we simulated for about 1.5 minutes. During this time, water could well penetrate where it should not. After the experiment, we open the phone and find that a little moisture has penetrated inside. This did not affect the performance of the device in any way, but after a while, perspiration appeared on the display (see photo).
This is what distinguishes the waterproof and moisture-resistant case. If with the first one you can swim at a depth, then the second one protects only from splashes. However, if there had been an "ordinary" phone in place of the M75, for example, Siemens S65, then it would hardly have survived even ten seconds of the test. The author of these lines had a case when a few drops of water accidentally fell into the S65 joystick area - they easily penetrated inside and shorted the contacts on the board so that the handset could not be used for some time. Only prolonged drying brought the apparatus back to life.
In the case of the Siemens M75, one and a half minutes of heavy rain caused only perspiration on the display, which disappeared by itself after several hours of drying, for which we opened the device and removed all the rubber plugs.
5. Car
And the last test is a test by a car. It is made more for entertainment than to obtain any specific results. Recall that so far no phone has survived such abuse.
In the forum for the Siemens M75 crash test, one of the readers suggested that the device's display cracked because we put the phone face up. Allegedly, with the opposite disposition, the display is more likely to survive. Well, let's check. We put the phone down with the screen on the asphalt and slowly drive over the car. At the point of maximum pressure, an unpleasant crunch is heard from under the wheel, from which one thought in my head: "Well, that's it, they killed the phone."
The martyr, extracted from under the car, appeared before us with a cracked display. So it does not matter which side to put the device under the car - there is almost no chance of survival. Tried to turn on the phone - apparently to no avail. But what was our surprise when we found that the phone works! The fact is that the crash test was carried out on a bright sunny day, and we simply did not see the backlight turn on. But as soon as we got into the car, the phone immediately showed signs of life with a bright white backlight on the display and keyboard. To celebrate, we called the handset - there was no sound signal, but the vibration alert worked! In general, after driving by the car, the display, speaker and, moreover, the microphone broke, but the phone continued to ring and receive calls. Theoretically, having paid 100-150 USD for repairs (which, in principle, is justified), it was possible to bring the device back to life. But we did not do this, but decided to finally throw off the "SUV" from a high building - the Main Building of Moscow State University.
6. Most recent test
Unfortunately, it was not possible to detect exactly where the phone landed on the asphalt. But, perhaps, this is not so important, in any case, when falling from the 25th floor, the phone receives at least significant damage (see photo):
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The side rubber insert has almost completely come out, exposing the "insides" of the phone. We put the insert back relatively easily. |
But the piece that broke off from the keyboard can no longer be restored. |
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The battery cover from a powerful blow opened, but did not leave the phone. |
The protective glass is cracked. |
The battery cover from a powerful blow opened, but did not leave the phone. It was held in place by a set screw. Thus, after falling from any height, the phone does not lose its integrity: neither the cover, nor the battery, nor, especially, the SIM card, flies off. The only element that still “ran away” was the rubber plug of the connector, but we eventually found that one too.
Having brought the phone into relative order, we tried to turn it on. After a few presses of the "red" button, the backlight came on! But in just a second, she turned off. The intensive therapy carried out again revived the phone, but again only for a moment, after which the device died completely.
Summary: the car with which we crushed the phone "in spirit" reminded us of Siemens itself. Of course, the BMW X5 is a serious "off-road vehicle", but hardly anyone will go fishing on it. The current trend is as follows: urban residents do not particularly need super-off-road qualities, convenience, comfort, and functionality are much more important. The dust and moisture-proof and shock-resistant housing of the handset is just an application, one of the items in the list of its characteristics. Therefore, it is not necessary to check the performance of the device during a deep dive or in flight from the upper floors. Siemens M75 is business functionality in a practical rugged package. You may not drop your phone often, but with a regular handset, once can be enough. Siemens significantly increases the likelihood that you will stay connected even in extreme situations. Alexander1:SUPER phone! I learned it so much that I was already taking it out of my pants pocket
already typed any necessary menu item with the keys, even calmly
dialed the call number without error.
Now, in 2017, I want to buy it again in the form of a time machine, because.
an indecent number of pleasant moments associated with him in 2005-summer)
Highscreen Tasty :
Svetlana:Stylish handy smartphone with a good camera and a nice metal case. Not a very capacious battery, but I don’t particularly load the phone, I have enough for a day and a half. The screen is very bright and easy to read. Lte, 2 sims, a confident signal even in a village near Tula, where he usually catches in only one place, moreover, on the stairs and with his arm outstretched. The camera is ordinary, on the screen the pictures seem brighter and more saturated than when you throw them on the computer. If someone prints pictures from smart, you will need to slightly process them in Photoshop for brightness. I took a promotion in the official store, for the price at which I got it, smart chic.
Highscreen Power Ice :
Ekaterina:A very successful model for such a price, both externally and in terms of filling. Firstly, a beautiful design, comfortable to hold in your hand, has a fairly durable body. Secondly, it works well: I easily use all applications, quickly finds 3G, LTE, wi-fi. I like the camera too. I thought that 8 megapixels would not be enough for clear pictures. It's surprisingly long without a charge given how much time I spend on social media, listening to music, and constantly using apps. No more than once every 2 days I only charge. In addition, a good amount of memory. I often download something and while I am saving pictures on the device. In general, a very convenient and inexpensive phone. I gladly recommend using
Highscreen Power Five EVO :
Igor:The biggest plus of this device is the battery. Even maybe not so much a battery as a balance, so to speak. I charge every 3-4 days, while this did not particularly affect the design, it is quite decent, not a brick and not a shovel. Not the most powerful processor, but nevertheless it does not freeze, with the installation of toy applications and any other little things necessary for work and entertainment, there are no problems, everything pulls with a bang. Surprisingly decent main camera, front camera is not ice. The speaker does not wheeze, the interlocutor is heard well, the sound in the headphones is completely normal. For the price, this is a great option.
Dmitry:A good smartphone for a good price, the battery lasts a long time, the camera shoots with high quality, the processor with RAM pulls most games.
Highscreen Boost 3 Pro :
Matvey:Sound is the bomb! I took it because of the sound and the battery, the rest is not critical for me, the main thing is to call, not be buggy and not be littered with all sorts of rubbish in the form of unnecessary applications. With a small battery I go for 2 days, you can safely take a large one for a weekend trip where there are no outlets. It is well assembled, it does not creak anywhere, the lid does not lag behind, the charging socket is also durable (in principle, no wonder, I charge it infrequently). The camera is average, it will do for amateur photos, you can also see the text, for everything else I have a SLR. The Internet does not slow down, the application pulls calmly, but I have not tried it on heavy games. The manufacturers are great for not putting headphones in the kit, with cheap plugs for 150 re there will be no sound, you need good headphones like Sennheiser or Fisher, otherwise you won’t feel a mega-sound or appreciate the chip.
Every autumn, parents go broke on stationery for their children, every winter tires are changed on wheels, every spring cigarette butts, lost mobile phones and Zaporozhets parked in the yards show up from under the snow. Quite, you know, naturally, and only stern and bearded lovers of Nescafe are spared from this because of the Arctic Circle. In addition to the traditions established by nature, time and the Tax Inspectorate, new habits, fellow travelers of progress and other benefits of civilization, are sometimes wedged into our everyday life on the go. For example, for the second year in a row we are spending the summer season under the sign of a massive invasion of the domestic counters of Siemens mobile phones. A sort of quite a mobile landing. Let's keep politically incorrect analogies to ourselves and arm ourselves with facts.
Last summer, the German “first-born” of the 65th line was the bulletproof SUV M65, which “left” from warehouses literally like hot cakes and quickly settled in the pockets of lovers of an active lifestyle and unusual design of gadgets. The CX65 hurried after, its functional twin of a somewhat more fragile constitution. Closer to autumn, we were pleased with the stylish “dream of a top manager” of the S-class and the SL65 slider, which continued the glorious traditions of the “eselka” of the 55th model range. The unjustified void in the budgetary beginning of the line was soon closed by C and A65, the promising niche of phones with an “interesting” design was occupied by SK65, and the CFX65 and SF65 tried to compete with the reference Korean clamshells. Let's leave the analysis of the company's marketing miscalculations to analysts, but from our belfry, we still note that the phones of the 65th series did not justify the hopes of the management, at least for three reasons:
Problems with firmware of new models in the first deliveries;
Lack of support for compressed media files even in the top models of the line.
Meanwhile, the next “brothers” have already appeared on the shelves - the robust M75 and the intellectual CX75. Our test lab got a pre-sale sample of the CX75. Does Siemens have a chance for rehabilitation at least this year? Now let's find out.
In the box
The package bundle of the phone is poor, moreover, it is almost budget-friendly. In the habitually small box, there was a place only for the phone itself, a battery, a charger and a CD with synchronization software. Meanwhile, given the remarkable multimedia abilities of the new "German", I would like to find a stereo headset in his factory company. Meanwhile, the average domestic user is quite tight-fisted, usually does not burn with desire to spend money on an original accessory and prefers knee-length Chinese handicrafts for a dollar apiece. Not included in the package and a memory card. By the way, for some reason, the M75 was not deprived of an expansion module and headphones - why would this be so, you ask? Thus, according to the contents of the box, it is absolutely impossible to say that we have a representative of the middle class. It's a pity.
Outside
Continuity and tradition in the design of their products is an excellent policy in all respects. Every self-respecting mobile vendor will not make sudden movements when changing design motives, and even in the embodiment of the most extravagant design idea, it will leave some touch that is easily recognizable by fans. Since Siemens still respects itself, the main features of its telephone creativity in the representatives of the new line are preserved. But, we repeat, only the main ones - there are quite understandable experiments with design. Definitely, to say that we have Siemens in front of us, you can at first glance at the CX75. But if you close the name of the model helpfully located under the display, then it is unlikely that you will be able to accurately guess the genealogy of the model. There are too many stylistic inconsistencies: there is no way to write a new model into the direct heirs of the CX65. This is rather unfortunately: the exterior of the first one was to the taste of many and, I must say, not in vain - the phone had a bold, stylish and fresh appearance.
The CX75 is a pretty big phone. The previous model's hefty dimensions were one hundred percent justified by the use of a display matrix that was simply huge for last year's non-smartphone. This, if you remember, was the main "trick" when promoting new items on the market. The highly respected Siemens AG so furiously promoted this advantage of the device, that to this day many people remember that the display area of the CX65 is 13 cm2. And there is absolutely nothing to explain the portly constitution of the novelty - the dimensions of 110 x 48 x 19 mm cause sincere bewilderment. At the same time, the weight of the “German” is only 98 g, which is why the phone is perceived as “empty”. These are not nit-picking: well-known designer Ettore Sottas a good half a century ago quite empirically proved that overall and light equipment arouses distrust among the buyer. Not a postulate, of course, but quite relevant to this day. However, everything could be forgiven for the CX75, if it had a display that occupies two-thirds of the front panel. But no, the display is a very modest size (according to a rough estimate, its area is 9 cm2 with a diagonal of approximately 41 mm). The screen takes up ridiculously little space in the vast space above the keyboard, which makes the phone as a whole look rather indistinct and even stubby. Its exterior is also not painted by the use of plastic metallized surfaces, which are perceived as unreliable at the same subconscious level: they won’t fall off, but they will easily peel off. However, it is worth paying tribute to the designer - the chrome bevel of the upper part of the front panel looks appropriate and even evokes just the same automotive associations.
Yes, because we have not yet said a word about the essence of the display. There is absolutely nothing to complain about here - the 132 x 176 TFT-matrix, although it will not give odds to Samsung's, shines and shimmers with all 262K colors very impressively. In addition, the manufacturer again applied its proprietary coating, thanks to which the screen does not fade so much in direct sunlight. The technology is very effective and in the summer, against the background of its competitors, the phone is very confident. The picture on the screen is quite pleasant: moderate grain, good color reproduction and a wide viewing angle, of course, we will not attribute to shortcomings.
It would be simply unforgivable stupidity to have such an area at your disposal and not make the keyboard comfortable. Siemens designers coped with their task - despite its rather specific design, it is arranged, perhaps, optimally and does not cause any discomfort at all. Numeric buttons are large and textured, clearly spaced in vertical rows, and soft keys, despite the dangerous proximity to the call buttons, are pressed blindly and unmistakably due to the characteristic bulges. But the five-way joystick inherited the bad character of its predecessor: it became a little more convenient to handle it, but it still fixes pressing every other time. Under the joystick there is a key, known to us from some models of the 65th series. There, she was responsible for accessing My Menu. In CX75, the function of launching a WAP browser is rigidly assigned to it. However, we will talk about quick navigation below, but now we are interested in the appropriateness of its location right next to the number key “2″. And with this, oddly enough, everything is in order: the digital buttons are higher than the functional ones and navigation errors are practically excluded. The backlighting of the keyboard is milky, rather bright and uniform.
The speaker performs both voice and polyphonic functions; it is located above the display and, traditionally for Siemens, is covered with a metal grill. By the way, this stylish move, without further ado, was adopted by Nokia - let's remember the 9500. The interlocutor's voice is reproduced perfectly: it is recognizable and, at the same time, quite loud, but without the characteristic hoarseness. Unfortunately, everything is not so smooth with audio files: midi-scores performed by a 40-voice polyphonic synthesizer and passed through the speaker have a not very pleasant timbre and color (however, this can be attributed to a set of preset ringtones), and when trying to play mp3, aac or wav speaker frankly croaks. This applies primarily to “loud” playback (well, the phone cannot complain about the volume margin).
On the left side there is an IrDA window.
On the right - shortcut keys to "unanswered calls" and start the camera.
At the top there is an eyelet for a strap.
A standard interface connector is cunningly arranged at the bottom (they don't look for good for good) and a slot for RS-MMC format memory cards. By design, it resembles that of the S65, but the implementation of its protection (a thin bar, fixed on parole and a flimsy plastic strip) inspires even less confidence. To be honest, I would not pull her once again - away from sin, as they say.
On the rear panel, there is an indecently deep and open connector for an external antenna, as well as a camera lens. It is recessed deep into the case - this saves it from physical damage, but, alas, not from dust. Cleaning the lens from the villi and spools that accidentally fell on it, of course, it’s just a sin not to scratch it. Under the removable panel is a standard fixed battery and a slot for a SIM card.
The hue of the body color best expresses its “official” name – Titan grey. For some reason, the case does not inspire much confidence, however, to everyone's surprise, the phone is assembled surprisingly reliably and does not even creak when pressed quite hard. During the week of testing, the surface of the case was subjected to serious and most unfavorable physical impacts, however (to no less surprise), it withstood all the tests with honor - even after a three-day trip, not a scratch appeared on it in a jeans pocket. Even, imagine, on the metallized parts of the case.
But the vibrating alert upset. When the CX65 first “trembled” in my pocket, I was frightened by a sinful thing, and even, according to eyewitnesses, jumped quite high. And the vibrations of the CX75 body can be missed even with not very fast walking. It's annoying.
Inside
The changes that have taken place in the structure of the user interface of the CX65 firmware since the 65th series are perhaps not noticeable at first glance. If you dig a little deeper, then some improvements are obvious, but they are all from the category of “optional”. The interface is almost completely identical to the previous Siemens models, and this is more a plus than a minus. The ideology of interaction between a person and a phone offered by the German vendor is convenient, intuitive, requires minimal time to get used to, and is finely polished by many years of practice of the concern's mobile division. This, of course, is just wonderful.
The control is carried out by a joystick, the right and left soft buttons perform the function of context buttons, and the “Hang up” key returns to the previous level of the dialog. In addition, it is quite possible to control everything with the help of a joystick: in the lists of the second level and below, the direction “right” functions as “forward”, and “left” - backward. Traditionally, in the standby mode, the left and right soft keys are programmable and you can “hang” almost anything on them. About the same thing can be done with the number buttons - the option or application will be available by long pressing. The already mentioned “My Menu” has also been implemented: a generated register of links to the most requested functions. Numeric sequences are also available, however, due to the fact that the lists are not numbered, this feature will hardly be in demand. Do not count the menu items on the screen, in fact. However, if you close your eyes to this trifle, then the ergonomics of the interface of the 75th Siemens line is exemplary.
The design of the device's "guts" has undergone a slight "facelift": the icons look at least digestible, and several nice and appropriate design themes are at the user's disposal. And of course, do not forget that this is Siemens - you can decorate it, provided you have the necessary software and simple skills, as you please.
Menu phone is organized by a 3 x 3 matrix, however, if desired, you can configure it to display page by page (it does not look the best way).
By pressing the right soft button in the main section, you can get to a small list of options where you can view all (!) Items and sub-items of the phone in one go, select the desired menu item by initial letters, change the menu view, adjust the screen brightness and programmatically remove memory card. Quite convenient, it should be noted, the opportunity.
Phonebook standard for Siemens. It is still a choice to display SIM memory or phone resources, convenient management of "business cards" and 8 dial plans. A huge number of cells are available for writing to the contact memory of the device: last name, first name, three phone numbers, two fax numbers, two e-mails, URL, numbers in popular Internet messengers, company name, full postal address and date of birth. An advanced CallerID is available both for a number and for a group in the form of a picture and a melody (including mp3 / aac / wav), as well as, rather curiously, a CalerID video that allows you to “bind” some video file. The memory of the CX75 can hold up to 1000 contacts.
Call lists quite trivial: unanswered and received calls (about a hundred entries for each folder), dialed numbers and a voice traffic counter. Each call is recorded in a separate record, in which you can inquire about the date of the call and its duration.
In chapter Internet/games there is a WAP-browser 2.0 with a pleasant ability to view unoptimized pages (unfortunately, it has some difficulties with Cyrillic encodings) and a solid set of applications.
Among them:
Variations on the theme “Fifteen” Magic Photo
logic game Photo Guess
the real “sea battle” Seabattle
Siemens Music Pinball
classic Stack Attack with JSR-184 support and the ability to publish results on the Web
simulator of the hard life of a sumo wrestler Sumo Smash
utility for filling blogs Blog Client
quite functional pre-MMS editor Photo Editor 2.5
software for uploading photos to the server Siemens My-Photos Online
download manager
It is interesting that the software update over the air function is again used in this model: the user can go to a special website and the phone will automatically download the latest version of the software without data cables and computers.
Functionality cameras practically no different from that, for example, in the S65: a minimum of settings, several filters, three shooting resolutions, video recording in 3gp. The resolution of the CMOS-matrix is 1.3 MP (1280 x 1024). Naturally, no one began to greatly increase the size of the CCD compared to even the far from ideal S65, so the picture quality is appropriate: abundant noise in dim lighting and desperate, but unsuccessful attempts to correctly determine the color balance in bright sunlight. The best shots are taken on an overcast day. The picture itself often turns out to be blurry and, moreover, despite its relatively modest size, it takes a very long time to be written to memory (with an indispensable and terribly annoying save request).
Work with Messages implemented at the proper level: SMS is supported (up to 100 messages in memory), MMS (disk quotas removed) and a simple e-mail client.
Simensian text input is convenient - the vendor prudently did not harm the good for the best.
Organizer quite convenient: the calendar is viewed by months, weeks or days at the discretion of the user. Up to 1000 calendar events can easily fit in the phone's memory, cases (with different priorities of importance) and notes (including protected ones) are supported. Here you can also inquire about the time in the largest cities of the world and dictate a voice message. By the way, one dictaphone recording can take up at least all available memory (with a built-in disk array completely free from user content, its length is 75 minutes).
AT Settings absolutely nothing out of the ordinary was found, so we will safely skip them.
The phone's memory at the factory was spared 8.3 MB, however, about 5 MB will be available to the user from this immense array - the rest is occupied by preinstalled content. Given the support of RS-MMC, we will not write down a small amount of disk space as a disadvantage. The phone, without choking, "swallowed" a module with a capacity of 256 MB. There was no more at hand, however, according to reliable information, the device easily supports 512 MB media.
Almost any file can be written to the CX75 memory, but it will favorably treat .bmp, .png, .jpg, .gif (agif), .3gp, .midi, .wav, .mp3, .aac (+), .srt and .imy and a few more formats that are insignificant for the average user. All content can get into the phone both “over the air” (GPRS class 10 in conjunction with WAP 2.0), and with the participation of local communications. Moreover, both Bluetooth and IrDA work exemplary, without additional software and annoying malfunctions. Well, of course, no one has yet canceled data cables.
The most open principle of working with Java applications has not changed one iota since the 65th series - as before, midlets can be installed on the phone in any way. Together with MIDP 2.0, the JSR-184 API set (the ability to work with 3D) is supported, so the performance of the phone was determined by three versions of Jbenchmark:
Performance, as you can see, is not amazing. By the way, this is noticeable to the naked eye when navigating through the menu - not the CX65, of course, but it slows down, nevertheless, notably.
A pre-sale sample from the 5th firmware version was tested. At first, she behaved in a far from the best way, and I even had suspicions that we have a sequel to last year's mess with the first serial firmware. However, apparently, having “developed” the phone began to work stably and only sometimes showed tempers, not wanting to run Java applications.
The sensitivity of Siemens CX75 to BS signals was tested in the Belarusian Velcom and MTS networks in Minsk, as well as in the Russian Megafon and MTS networks in Moscow and the Moscow region. No matter what base station the phone was placed under, it received signals regularly and, even, almost exemplarily. True, the interlocutors sometimes complained that my voice was not transmitted very clearly, but this, you understand, can be attributed to a great many factors.
But the battery life from a battery with a capacity of 750 mAh turned out to be offensively small - with the most sparing operation, the device did not “live” even for a day and a half.
findings
Siemens CX75 is not one of those phones that are met by clothes - that's a fact. But the user
a) who likes it anyway
b) who will put up with his inconspicuous appearance
will get at its disposal a functional phone with a verified structure of the software interface and, moreover, burdened with impressive multimedia skills. In fact, only a short battery life can be attributed to its “internal” shortcomings. Otherwise, the CX75 represents the S65 as it should have been a year ago. And for only 255 USD. e. as of today. Let's follow the mind. We take off our hats.
Photos: Alexey Goncharov; Siemens
Thank Representation Siemens in Belarus for the kindly provided apparatus for testing.
A series of rugged phones is, perhaps, the eternal trump card of Siemens, none of the competitors, except for Nokia, pays attention to this niche, and there is always a demand for such devices. The peak of popularity of the M series was the time of the ME45, when this model was the best-selling Siemens phone and completely “killed” the S45 business model that was basic to it. Before and after that, there were other protected (with the exception of the M50 and M55) Mxx models, their successes were more modest, but they clearly made it clear that "unbreakable" phones will always find their buyer. They are purchased by thrifty people who want a device that is not as fragile as ordinary phones and able to survive the inevitable series of small everyday troubles, or really extreme people who choose a cellular phone as an integral part of their sports equipment. Released in the previous series, the M65 model clearly showed that it is unreasonable to rely on athletes, and it is more profitable to produce a protected phone with a universal one that matches the design with the everyday environment - then it will suit both. This is important, because the "sports" market is too narrow, the sporty design is unacceptable for a business environment (and the utilitarian one for an extreme is quite suitable), and the concept of a replaceable "picnic phone" has not yet been fully formed, and it has a number of flaws.
According to the principle applied in the 65th line, Siemens also derives its new protected model M75 from the functional model of the middle class with the designation CX. The CX75 adds removable memory support, an MP3 player function and a bundled stereo headset, Bluetooth and a 1.3-megapixel camera to a powerful business platform. This kit is a typical feature of a 2005 mid-range phone, by the middle of the year products with such characteristics from many manufacturers will be available. Accordingly, the M75 is the CX75 "packed" in a protective case.
Design and construction
Siemens M75 is a monoblock phone of rather large size. Its geometric solution is very simple, the shape of the phone is close to rectangular, only the ribs are slightly rounded. The back panel, combined with the top surface and the “frame” on the front side, is made of plastic and painted in semi-gloss silver color, a glossy front panel is made separately from it, inserted into a silver edging, like a frame. The side faces are equipped with prefabricated rubber pads in two colors. Of course, the parts fit together very tightly and are equipped with additional silicone seals, so that the body of the phone is almost monolithic, but the battery cover is too thin, it deforms and manages to creak when compressed, although it also rests on soft seals. 
The design of the Siemens M75 looks extremely primitive in the photographs, the phone is simple and rude, for which it has already earned a lot of unflattering ratings. In life, everything is a little better, the phone, although not charming, but not annoying. With the M75, Siemens made an attempt to return from the sporty style of the M65 to the utilitarian one of the ME45. The attempt, I must say, is clumsy, the device still has a rough look, but it combines with the everyday business style with grief in half. However, the M65 looked much more interesting, that's a fact.
Consider the design of the phone in terms of different types of protection. The side faces are covered with rubber inserts that cover all the tops of the case, and thus serve as protection against impacts. M75 has no other power elements. The main keyboard, speaker and microphone holes are specially designed to prevent water from entering inside. The side keys do not have grooves, they are simply molded together with a side rubber insert. The battery compartment cover is fastened with a swivel latch (as in other protected Siemens models, it is designed to be opened with a coin, but in our copy the “screw” could be turned with a fingernail) and has a sealing rubber gasket along the contour of contact with the case. The openings of the antenna input and the camera lens located nearby are closed with a plastic cover with a rubber seal along the contour. The rubber part is connected to the antenna input plug, which can be used as a mounting axis: after opening the lens, you can rotate the cover around this axis so that it does not interfere with shooting, while the cover remains connected to the phone, which reduces the risk of losing it. Finally, one more joint plug, apparently, will receive an information connector and a memory card slot, located, as in the S65, on the bottom. This plug was not included in the test sample kit, but its presence seems quite logical.
As a result, the shock resistance of the phone can be assessed as sufficient, the rubber pads cover all the critical places where the phone usually falls (as a rule, these are the edges and tops of the case), they are thick enough and can absorb the impact. Of course, the absence of an external metal exoskeleton, as in the M65, somewhat reduces the degree of protection, but during impacts, this part is effective only if there is a thick rubber “lining”, and in many cases this rubber is successfully replaced. The lack of an exoskeleton only negatively affects the case's resistance to crushing and the ability to maintain its integrity when dropped from a great height onto a hard surface, but both cases are too risky for any phone, and they are better avoided than trying to protect yourself from them. Moisture protection of M75 is at the level of M65, that is, it is quite good; Water must not enter the housing during short-term immersion (about 1 minute), unless all plugs are correctly installed.
The M75 keyboard is typical for Siemens phones, it consists of a numeric keypad, a five-way joystick, call and end call buttons, a pair of soft keys and an additional button that calls the WAP browser. The numeric keys are quite comfortable, their pressing force is average (which is very good for a protected phone), and the convex profile makes them normally distinguishable. The same applies to service keys (except for WAP, whose ergonomics are indifferent to the majority of users). The joystick is equipped with a rubber pad, thanks to which it does not slip, the deflection and pressing forces are also well chosen. Our sample apparently did not work well enough with the pressed position contact, which is why the joystick sometimes did not work in this direction, which is most likely a defect in this instance.
In addition to the main keyboard, the phone is equipped with a button for calling the shooting function (which also acts as a shutter release) and a Push-to-Talk button - both of these buttons are located on the right side of the case.
On the left side, closer to the bottom end, there is an IrDA window. On the back surface there is a built-in camera lens, under which there is a mirror for self-portrait shooting. On the bottom side there is an interface connector and a slot for RS-MMC memory cards. The slot has an open design (its slot is closed only by a removable plug) and is equipped with a spring ejector that pushes the edge of the card out when you press it. In the M75, this idea doesn't work very well, as it's difficult to press the card due to the thick rubber seal surrounding the slot opening - you either need to have strong nails or use handy items. 
The phone is equipped with a screen with a standard Siemens resolution of 132×176 pixels, but displaying 262,144 colors. It is noteworthy that the screen diagonal is smaller than that of the CX/M/S65, respectively, and the graininess of the image is lower. It is difficult to catch the difference in the image of the M75 and, say, S65, only the appearance of the photos has slightly improved. As before, the screen is transreflective, the image is very well read in the bright sun.
The device comes with a 600 mAh lithium-ion battery. The battery mount is typical for Siemens - it is fixed with hooks on the left side and a ledge-latch - on the right. The SIM-card slot is equipped with a fixed transverse clamping bar made of metal, as well as a pressed plastic plate against which the end of the card rests.
Menus and functions
The software platform of the M75 is, by and large, the same as that of the S65. This was quite predictable, since the functionality of the business phone of the previous generation, as a rule, in the next generation passes to upper-middle class models. The capabilities of the S65 are good enough, and the menu structure is recognizable and logical, so a direct transfer of the software platform to the CX/M75 models is quite natural. The differences between the models are only in some additional applets for the M75. 
The menus and controls in the M75 are completely identical to those of the Siemens x65. Only the icons of the main menu have been redrawn, there are no other visual differences. To call up the menu, pressing the joystick is used, and both soft keys can be programmed to quickly launch applications. As before, pressing the soft key leads to the display of a dialog in which you can run the program assigned to it, or reassign another one. In order to simply launch the application, you need to use a long press. Joystick deflections in idle mode also give access to various applets. The main menu is a matrix of 9 icons, nested menus are one-dimensional, text. All menu items are numbered, quick navigation works with the number keys, but the number of the current item is always displayed on the screen. To confirm, press the joystick, to return to the previous level - the end button. The right soft key can also be used for confirmation, duplicating the joystick, while the left is usually free or used for other operations. When appropriate, the context menu is invoked, usually done with the right soft key. 
Siemens M75 equipped with extended address book for 1000 records, each of which can contain up to 22 information fields. In addition to a large number of phone numbers and e-mail addresses, we will mention: two fields for entering the subscriber's name (first and last name), full compatibility of fields with MS Outlook, which allows you to automatically synchronize contacts with this program, a detailed address view, a field for setting a birthday, automatically synchronized with the organizer and allowing you to make a reminder by the specified date. There is also a field for ICQ UIN and AIM and WV aliases, the ability to "collapse" individual groups of fields into headers, which makes the book more convenient and compact for viewing, as well as a new display of the contact list: now for the selected entry, its group membership and icons are indicated completed information fields. Additional features of the address book - splitting into 8 preset groups (you can rename them, but not edit their composition), setting a photo that is displayed during an incoming call. There is no voice dialing, as before.
Entries from the phone memory and SIM card can be displayed and called up by the "joystick down" command, as well as from the phone's main menu only separately. To switch to another type of memory, you need to execute a special command in the phone book menu - select default book, the default memory. This is a standard solution for Siemens, as well as for most phones with detailed address books.
Menu Call List contains standard means of registering calls of all types, their duration and cost. 
Typical menu for Siemens Internet/games combines a WAP browser and access to games and applications. The WAP browser supports the WAP 2.0 and HTTP protocols, which means that it can also access regular Web services. The WAP setup, although carried out in two different places - the browser options window and the Connectivity on the menu Setup- does not cause any special problems, since a standard set of parameters and their designations is used.
The Siemens M75 comes pre-installed with a large set of games and applications written in Java. Of the business-oriented software tools, there are cocktail manager- a collection of cocktail recipes with the ability to update via the Internet, Emergency Phone Book- a list of phones for all occasions for different countries, photo editor- the simplest graphic editor, and Survival Dictionary- the simplest electronic dictionary. In general, the list of pre-installed business applets is not impressive.
Games are a completely different matter. The model supports 3D Java. Here we will find a very decent Sea Battle, Siemens 3D Rally branded three-dimensional race, and Worms, a Java version of the legendary computer Worms, absolutely mind-blowing in terms of fascination and addictiveness. In general, we really liked the set of pre-installed games.
If desired, you can delete midlets and add new ones - a convenient wizard is provided for this Download Assistant. Cataloging the downloaded software is very simple: the game midlets are installed in the folder Games, workers - in Applications. 
Paragraph Camera serves, of course, to control shooting functions. The main screen of this applet contains a relatively small viewfinder window, as well as indicators for the operation of various controls. The main operations are performed by the joystick - the vertical direction controls the digital zoom (the maximum value is 5x), the horizontal direction controls the exposure, while pressing the frame captures (the beginning of the video recording). Switching between photo and video modes is conveniently implemented - just one press of the left soft key will allow you to switch from photography to video recording. The right soft key calls up the shooting options menu.
Of the options, only the choice of resolution (maximum, high, medium, low, background image), color (normal, grayscale, sepia), file naming functions and the folder in which they are saved are available. Additionally, you can select the white balance mode (automatic, indoor, outdoor) and self-timer shooting. As you can see, there are few options.
In video mode, you can record clips with a duration of 1 minute 30 seconds. Here, the set of options includes the choice of resolution (maximum, medium), color (normal, grayscale, sepia), recording duration (maximum, MMS compatible mode), as well as white balance settings (automatic, indoor, outdoor).
The M75 uses a different sensor than the S65, so the look of the shots taken on the new model is somewhat different. The M75 does not have that unpleasant brown tint in the photos that is present in the S65, here the color balance is natural, and the shades themselves are saturated. However, the picture quality is far from perfect. Firstly, the matrix has a very small dynamic range, and bright areas in the frame almost always turn out to be overexposed. Secondly, the images suffer from a strong coarsening of detail, either due to the low resolution of the lens-matrix system, or due to flaws in software processing algorithms and JPEG image compression.
Example 6 
Paragraph Messages contains everything for working with messages. M75 supports SMS, MMS and e-mail. In the applet window, all of them have common folders of incoming, outgoing, sent, within which there is already a division by message type. In the same menu are the settings for all messaging services, including e-mail. 
On the menu Organizer there is a calendar with reminders and related utilities - lists of meetings and reminders, a notepad for short notes, a world time clock, a voice recorder, and separately - a list of missed reminders. The calendar has three types of display - monthly, weekly and daily. In the first case, the days on which the reminders fall are highlighted, and when they are selected, the names of the programmed events appear in the status bar. When programming a reminder, you can select the category of the event (simple reminder, call, meeting, dictaphone reminder, birthday, holiday). In accordance with them, the composition of additional information fields and a set of actions performed when a reminder is triggered are automatically selected. Memory for organizer entries is allocated dynamically, you can enter at least 1000 events. In general, this Siemens tool is probably the most flexible and powerful among all phones, not counting smartphones. If desired, you can view a list of all events using a special applet in the same menu.
The list of tasks also has advanced scheduling tools, allows you to select the type of task, priority (5 levels) and other typical parameters. The list of tasks can be directly imported from this applet from the server using SyncML. 
The M75 recorder allows you to record fragments of arbitrary duration, limited only by the amount of free memory. Unfortunately, the voice recorder does not work during a call. 
On the menu More contains additional utilities. As usual with Siemens, there is an alarm clock here, as well as a calculator, a unit converter, a stopwatch, a countdown timer, data synchronization control via SyncML, access to a file browser, and another "entrance" to the voice recorder. Utilities migrated almost unchanged to the M75 from previous models. The alarm clock allows you to program recurring signals that are triggered on the specified days of the week, the calculator, in addition to performing simple arithmetic operations, allows you to calculate the percentage and reciprocal value, the converter recalculates the units of length, temperature, energy, speed, mass, area, volume, power, time and pressure, as well as convert currencies. Other utilities do not need a special introduction. 
In step More there are also two new utilities for the M75 - an MP3 player and Push-to-Talk control. The MP3 player is very simple, but at the same time it has full support for playlists, and their format (M3U) is compatible with the popular WinAmp program. Moreover, the playlist is the main object of operations in the player, it is supposed to start working with it by selecting a playlist or compiling a new one. In the playlist itself, it is possible to arbitrarily choose the order in which the songs will be played. On the other hand, there are no other sound control functions - no equalizer is provided, and the choice of cyclic playback modes is very primitive. The sound quality provided by the player is quite decent, the player has a stereo output, if you wish, you can turn off playback of the left or right channel. 
Menu My files- This is the usual file manager for Siemens. The M75 file system, like in other Siemens phones, has a developed structure and allows you to perform most of the file operations familiar to PC users, in particular, to freely receive/transmit via IrDA and store data of any format in memory. Here you can also view images and videos, listen to sounds stored in the corresponding folders. 
Finally, point Settings gives access to all kinds of phone settings. Again, as usual in Siemens, the settings of absolutely everything are collected here - profiles, ringtones, WAP, GPRS, network functions, security, etc., except, perhaps, only the messaging services settings. However, the structure and designations of menu items are quite logical and understandable, so there are no particular difficulties, except that the redirection function is not sufficiently accessible for beginners and, in general, is not implemented very conveniently for frequent use.
The M75 has about 10 MB of memory that is dynamically allocated for all applications. This is not a record figure for today, but support for memory cards removes the limitation in the amount of memory. The phone allows you to receive files of any format via Bluetooth, IrDA or data cable and transfer them from one PC to another. True, in this case it is more convenient to use a memory card and a card reader.
Impressions and conclusions
Siemens M75 provides good communication quality. The polyphonic ringer is quite loud; you can use voice recorder recordings, MIDI and MP3 files as melodies. The vibrating alert is also quite powerful and feels good.
In general, Siemens M75 is a functional solution, on the one hand, very primitive, on the other - very effective. It's primitive because the M75 is actually a complete copy of the S65, with the exception of Push-to-Talk and MP3 playback. The design solution also does not contain anything new for Siemens, the M75 differs only in geometry and a set of protective elements, while moisture and shock protection technologies are the same as in previous generations of rugged phones. On the other hand, it is precisely this state of affairs that is beneficial for both consumers and manufacturers - for the former, it is good that the capabilities of a higher-class model are present in a lower one, and at the same time even rationally supplemented, while for the latter, it is beneficial to reduce the cost of developing a model. True, such an optimization of the production process has its drawback: saving on the engineering department turns into slow development of the platform and low efficiency of debugging, which is why quite a lot of complaints are received from users of the first series of each model, mainly about the dampness of the software.
The overall rating of the Siemens M75 is "good". The positive properties of the model are quite good protection, sufficient for reliable protection from household "accidents", a good transreflective screen, powerful business functions, good ergonomics, quite decent support for 3D Java. However, some shortcomings prevent the phone from giving the highest score. This is not the most successful design, rather large dimensions, a primitive MP3 player. In general, the M75 is well made, but it could have been better.
Secure Siemens phones traditionally occupy an exclusive market niche, they have few competitors, and therefore such a model may well count on success, so to speak, automatically. It is expected that the cost of the M75 will start at the same level as its predecessor, that is, about $300, and will decline quite quickly. So for owners of older protected Siemens models, it makes sense to think about upgrading, and there is a certain rationale in replacing the M65 with the M75: such an upgrade gives the Bluetooth user support for removable memory, MP3 player and PTT functions. It is even more logical to replace older models, this gives a significant increase in functionality. With such a replacement, the M75's dimensions are the most noticeable disadvantage, old Siemens fans will surely find that the new model is larger than the ones they have.
The M75 has only one equal competitor, the Nokia 5140i, which has similar specifications. Like last year, comparison of products from Nokia and Siemens is the main intrigue of the rugged phone market. Its denouement will be known only after testing the phone from Nokia, but a preliminary comparison of specifications shows that the confrontation will be very interesting.